by Karl Morgan
“Good morning to you all,” Zee began. “It appears that everyone is here now. For those of you who were able to join us for dinner last night, I hope you enjoyed yourselves. I can tell you that the arrival of the Brewsters and Arraks was a magical moment for me. Since the devastation of the Maklakar attack, I had wondered if I could ever be happy again. When they appeared, my heart was filled with joy.”
“It was a perfect evening, Consul,” De-o-Nu responded. “You and Minister Mondoka were gracious hosts. But let us get to the matters at hand.”
“Ah, yes,” Zee sighed, “we are here to discuss how to deal with the Maklakar. As I have told Admiral Brewster, we tekkans are not militaristic. We built Tak-Makla so that we would learn more about Universal Power and expand our trading networks. That is why we formed the alliance with your federations. We can provide intelligence through our agents in The Hive, while you provide security for us. Given that, I don’t think I should be leading a discussion on possible actions against the Maklakar.”
“Your point is well taken, Zee,” Mencius replied. “All of our races have had violent pasts, but we have changed too. It is only when we are attacked that our old instincts come back and violent actions may be required. Wouldn’t you agree, General Fa-a-Di?”
“Of course, Mencius,” Fa-a-Di said. “We all want peace, but sometimes others will not accept it. We can all remember the Predaxian wars. Although Emperor Zendo was a fool to attack us, I could understand his motivation. The Predaxian leadership had become paranoid about other species attempting to depose them. They came to believe the only way to avoid an attack was to attack others. These Maklakar have me stumped. We don’t know where they are or what they want. They caused incredible damage to The Hive here and we can’t understand how they were able to do it. They launched a tepid attack on Nom-Kat-La that had no chance of success. It’s very confusing.”
“Brother, perhaps I can help out,” Darlene said. “While we were guests on Atar Pa, Lord Balak allowed Bill, Cybil and me to join The Hive on that planet. We saw the attack on Tak-Makla first hand. At our request, Wendo had his agents focus on finding Maklakar worlds. Serena here is the Chief Engineer on the Atar Pa Hive. Perhaps she can provide more details.”
“It would be a pleasure, Ambassador,” Serena answered. “Once we resolved the issues of the apparent kidnappings of the Brewsters and Arraks, I ordered all agents in our Hive to work solely on finding Maklakar worlds. It turned out to be a simple task. Cybil Brewster suggested that a large number of agents view the attack on this Hive. They followed the Maklakar when they jumped out to their ships. Then they simply rode those ships back to their bases. Frankly, what they found was terrifying.”
Serena rose and began to walk around the table. “The Maklakar inhabit fifty planets on the outer fringe of this side of the galaxy, probably twenty thousand light years from here. When the Paxran invaded their space and began to destroy their worlds, they vowed to find a safe place to rebuild where the Paxran could never find them again. The Maklakar had always been great merchants and manufacturers of high quality goods. Now they were too afraid to form alliances with any other species. They believed any trading relationship could expose their location to the Paxran. Instead they focused only on internal and military development.”
Zee asked, “Serena, when we traded with the Maklakar long ago, they told us they were developing a technology similar to our Hives. Did your agents see anything like that?”
“None, Zee. However, it was clear they kidnapped Chief Engineer Arto Umbly in order to learn more about that technology,” Serena replied. “Fortunately for all of us, Arto attempted to escape and was shot dead while the ships were still near Tak-Makla.”
“Not so fortunate for Mr. Umbly, I’m afraid,” Loni sighed. “I trained to be a Chief Engineer with Arto. I can’t believe they did that to an unarmed man.”
“Loni, I know how you must feel,” Serena replied. “But Arto did not die that way. He actually disarmed one of the Maklakar and killed ten others before they shot him. He was a brave man for facing impossible odds like that. Clearly, he knew what they wanted from him and he would never have allowed that to happen.”
“What did your agents learn about the Maklakar military capabilities, Serena?” Fa-a-Di asked. “I’m still stunned by the strength of the attack here and the feebleness of the attack on Nom-Kat-La.”
“My team put together a video on that, General. We are able to record much of what we see on our trips in our Hive. It might be more helpful to see rather than listen to my words,” Serena answered. Zee tapped a button on his control panel and the open wall closed and a large screen slipped from its place in the ceiling.
“Team 157 report, Atar Pa Hive, Agent Volli Naza speaking,” said a voice. “Our team has been examining the planet Oti-Makla for several days.” The screen showed a large terrestrial planet with one large continent surrounded by large oceans. Dozens of large star cruisers were stationed in orbit. “This planet serves as the hub for the Maklakar civilization. The current leader, Supreme General Ulon Porto runs the society from his residence in the capital city of Oti-La. We have learned that the General’s grandson, Captain Awl Porto led the raid on Tak-Makla. Much of the success of that raid was due to the advanced Maklakar shielding technology. Those ships updated with this technology are almost invisible to sensor detection. This technological advance is new and only about ten percent of their fleet has it. Pay particular attention to this ship in your view.” A pointer was aimed at a large cruiser in the middle of a group of five others. After a moment, the ship began to fade and completely disappeared from the screen after five seconds. Fifteen seconds later, it appeared again. “You have just seen the Maklakar testing a new installation of this shielding system.”
“That is amazing,” De-o-Nu gasped. “How can they do that? Is there no heat signature at least?”
Serena stopped the presentation. “From what we’ve seen, the sensor block is almost perfect,” she replied. “The level of detection is well below the noise level that our systems currently ignore. If we tuned our system to detect them, every bit of space debris or a random gamma ray would set them off continually. These ships are invisible.”
“What else have you learned, Serena?” Fa-a-Di asked.
“General, have you been briefed on the plasma bomb technology found on the Donnaki fleet by Hive 1008?” she asked. He nodded. “The Maklakar invented that as well. It seems they gave that technology to the Donnaki.”
“Why in Heaven’s name would they do that?” Fa-a-Di shouted. “Those crazy creatures can take over half the galaxy with that.”
“The Maklakar know the Donnaki and Paxran empires are rivals. What better way to weaken the ones who destroyed the Maklakar civilization than to give a superior weapon to their worst enemy?” Serena responded. “Now it is possible for the Maklakar to get their final revenge without doing any fighting. The Donnaki will kill the Paxran for them.”
“But won’t the Donnaki attack others and perhaps even the Maklakar with that technology?” Dave asked.
“Unfortunately for us, the Maklakar don’t care about us,” Wendo said. “They yearn only to be left alone. If that weapon is used to kill trillions of others, they say so be it.”
“The plasma bomb is not new technology for the Maklakar, Dave,” Serena interrupted. “It has a serious weakness the Maklakar discovered long ago. They have rectified that problem and now have better systems.”
“What weakness?” De-o-Nu asked.
“When we were attacked on Hive 1008, our first reaction was to flee,” Governor Lonk said. “We were in their space and did not want an intergalactic incident. To his benefit, General Zilma figured out the weakness shortly after we disabled the Donnaki fleet. The plasma bomb is very unstable until it is launched toward its target. If your ship is being attacked by such a weapon, you only need to fire at the ball while it is developing. That will cause it to explode with the force traveling backward to the attacking ships. Aud
y calculated that if we had done that, the explosion would have disabled or destroyed half of the Donnaki fleet.”
“The weapon is as dangerous to the shooter as the target,” Fa-a-Di laughed. “Still, the Donnaki could destroy hundreds of Paxran ships before they figure that out. How did the Maklakar correct that problem?”
Serena walked around the table and stopped behind Zee. She touched a button and said, “Advance to stop 15.” The picture changed to a longer distance view of the planet Oti-Makla. A small metallic moon orbited precariously close to the planet. “This is their solution. It is a manufactured moon, approximately one thousand miles in diameter. It is basically a battle station. It houses two hundred thousand soldiers, ten star cruisers and five hundred star fighters. It also contains ten plasma bomb systems. The plasma balls develop completely within the planetoid. They only fire out when they are stable. If you were to shoot at the plasma bomb after it is launched, there is a chance it would explode. However, even if it did, there would be no pulse back into the station.”
“My God,” Zee said. “That is the most horrifying weapon of war I have ever seen. How many of those systems do the Maklakar have?”
“We have found only five,” Serena replied. “However, we heard plans to have a total fleet of twenty. The good news is their plan is to use them to protect their frontiers only. The bad news is they would be unstoppable if they chose to invade.”
“I’m not clear how they penetrated to the heart of The Hive without us knowing. Couldn’t our agents see their ship or their actions on our planet?” Fak asked.
“The Maklakar ships were stationed ten light-years from Tak-Makla,” Serena said. “Apparently, they have the technology to jump troops and other materials from that distance. So, we have a sphere with a radius of ten light-years. That’s over four thousand cubic light-years. With the smaller agent force during the night, the odds of finding a few ships in that much space is very small. Also, the ships were shielded. It is possible the Maklakar have a portable shielding system that accompanied their soldiers.”
“But why attack us?” Zee asked. “We were their friends for a very long time. We have never done anything to hurt them.”
“I don’t know for certain,” Serena said. “It seems clear the Maklakar are frightened of the technology in a Hive. This Hive is the closest to their space. They may also know of your relationship with these other Beings who are not as passive as the tekkans.”
“That brings us back to Nom-Kat-La,” Fa-a-Di said. “If these Maklakar are afraid of Hives, then why did they send an inferior force to attack my planets? We have two Hives under construction, and I must admit we Galliceans are not the most friendly-looking creatures.”
“We haven’t found that out yet, General,” Serena admitted. “I believe they underestimated the Galliceans. Remember that the Maklakar are xenophobic. Your race has never had any interaction with them. Their fear of the Paxran probably extends to other maklan races like the tekkans. To them, your species is another race of inferior valakars, like the Donnaki.”
“They know better than that now!” Fa-a-Di exclaimed. “Even though I am proud of my military, our victory now frightens me. Perhaps the Maklakar will try to attack again with one of those battle stations. I don’t know if our civilization would survive such an attack.”
“Clearly, the danger level for all of our societies has been ratcheted up several notches,” Mencius said. “None of us are in a position to oppose such a threat. It’s astonishing to me that the Maklakar would attack without provocation. I suppose I can understand their desire for vengeance against the Paxran and their fear of Hive technology. But that does not excuse them for attacking Tak-Makla, Nom-Kat-La or any other peaceful planet.”
Antar Arrak rose and stood behind Wendo Balak. “Dear friends, we want you to know the Society of Humanity is behind you. Wendo and I will be traveling to the home galaxy soon to meet with the High Council. We have already advised them about this threat and the weapons available to the Maklakar. The Society has committed to retrofitting ten Hive planetoids to have weapons and shielding systems similar to the Maklakar battle stations. Those planetoids will be moved to this galaxy to provide protection.”
Wendo rose and said, “As you may know, we are about to change the organization of the Society into what I have always called the Free Society. All of the Society planets in this galaxy will form a new federation. The Society will still survive, but it will have a much more limited role. We have discussed the possibility of adding all of your worlds to the local federation, regardless of species. If that happens, our first priority will be to build an additional twenty battle-ready Hive planetoids. We believe that will be enough to stop the Maklakar, Paxran or Donnaki from attacking any of us.”
“That is an interesting idea, Wendo, but how can a federation of humans expect to manage Galliceans or Predaxians or Palians?” Fa-a-Di asked.
“I understand your concern, General,” Wendo replied, “but I think you miss the core values of the Free Society. Each planet has its rights and its society. The Gallicean worlds can maintain almost full autonomy. Even though the Kalideans are human, they can do the same. That’s why it is called the Free Society. All worlds have a voice in the overall management of the federation. Votes are based on population. Each individual gets to vote. If the majority of Beings are human, it is likely a human would be elected President of the federation, but not necessarily. As of now, I would say the first President would likely come from the Kalideans, since they have the largest group of worlds.”
“The federation is more about defense, intercultural relations and trade,” Antar said. “I encourage many of you to join us on this trip. Representatives from each group of planets need to decide how they wish to run their societies, as part of the federation or not. If Greater Gallia or the Kalidean Federation chooses not to join our federation, we can still have mutual defense treaties and trade.”
Wendo continued, “This is an opportunity to put our divisions behind us and join together. Our federation will provide security and prosperity for thousands of generations. Darlene told me about the treaty Earth 47 made with Greater Gallia for planet sharing. I thought that was marvelous. That type of thing would become the norm in our federation. We would all be brothers.”
“I don’t know if my old body could survive traveling to another galaxy in a pressure suit,” Fa-a-Di said.
“General, we can take care of that,” Alin Lonk replied. “We don’t have the technology the tekkans use to let you survive here. However, Hive 1008 is a space ship, and therefore has many sections that can be closed off in case of hull failure. We can isolate one small section and provide the correct atmosphere for your team. When you wish to travel to other parts of the ship, you only need a facemask to provide air. Do you think that will be acceptable?”
“That will be fine, thank you. How long will all of this take?” Fa-a-Di asked. “I wouldn’t pass such an important assignment to anyone else, but I have my own civilization to run.”
“It will take a few days to organize enough Hives to transport Hive 1008 back to the home galaxy,” Alin said. “We will stay here until that time. We will also prepare quarters for all the teams during that time. You can arrange for your teams to come here in the next three or four days. I am guessing the meetings there will go on for a week or two. Once that’s over, we’ll come right back.”
“But how long does it take to make the trip?” Darlene asked. “It’s two million light-years away, after all.”
“It really takes no time at all, Darlene,” Alin replied. “The trip is just another jump into a wormhole. It will seem longer inside the wormhole, but in universe time, it’s instantaneous. It might feel like a while inside the hole, but that’s just the effect of the quiet and darkness.”
Chapter 24
The twin suns of the Oti-Makla system crawled slowly above the horizon, casting the first light of a new day on the dark streets of Oti-La. Streetlights began to switch o
ff as the light level rose. The broad boulevards of the capital city were almost deserted at this hour, with only a few taxis and military transports floating along. The massive Oti River flowed slowly through the city, crossed every few blocks by massive stone and steel bridges. As daylight flowed into the center of the city, the cavernous walls of skyscrapers attempted to push it back. Sunlight illuminated the tall walls that separated the Central Government Compound from the remainder of the city. Just inside the walls, the treetops were lit with the light of the new day and birds chirped and flew among the branches.
Unlike the city outside the walls, all of the buildings in the Compound were limited to three stories tall and were constructed from cold gray stone. Only the Supreme General’s residence was clad in bright white marble, which is why it was named the White House. Central Lake in the middle of the Compound was alive with dozens of fountains. The lake was surrounded by a park and wide walkway all around the five mile circumference. Central Boulevard separated the lake from the long rows of governmental office buildings. Hundreds of troops were marching around the lake and preparing for the new day. A single light could be seen from a window on the first floor of the White House.
Supreme General Ulon Porto looked out that window on the new day. His office was not large, with room for a desk and a conference table with twenty chairs. One wall was decorated with memorabilia from his long reign. The opposite wall was lined with bookshelves containing reports from the other forty-nine planets and the various military leaders. He turned from the window and sat at his desk again. The report on the attack on Tak-Makla lay in front of him. He flipped through the pages, half reading the words and then slammed it shut.
There was a quick three knocks on the door, and his chief of staff, General Udu Bora entered. Udu had worked for Ulon for fifty solar cycles, the entire time Ulon had been Supreme General. Together, they had come up with the idea for battle stations, which would finally give their people some assurance that the Paxran could not return.